01 June 2011

SoWa Bike

This bike was getting a lot of attention at the SoWa Open Market (Sundays in the South End). There was an Italian family touching it, I got to feeling a little bit uncomfortable with their enthusiastic appreciation - it seems that bike groping etiquette is different across cultures. Would you touch another person's bike? Most particularly, would you explore the firmness of their Brooks saddle?

Americans touch my bikes all the time, including testing the saddle's firmness! I sometimes work at cafes where I position myself at the window and keep an eye on my bike, so I get to see this. Who knows what's happening to your bike when you're not watching it : )

I don't touch bikes owned by people I don't know - in fact, I even hate shifting a bike over so I can lock mine to the same rack!

Part of the thing for me is that I regularly have to chase people off of one of my bikes; it's partially because it is a cool looking bike, and partially because of drunks in the neighborhood where I work. But it still drives me crazy.